Blackburn star Jason Roberts is a big Ian Holloway fan

But with Rovers battling to avoid the drop just like the Seasiders, Roberts admits sentiment will have to go out the window.

Holloway was Roberts’ old boss at Bristol Rovers. He signed him from Wolves for a then club record £250,000 in 1998 and developed him into a player who West Brom paid £2m for two years later.

The 33-year-old, who joined Wigan in 2004 before moving to Blackburn five years ago, said: “Ian was one of the few who wanted to give me an opportunity as a young kid. I only scored one goal in the first 17 games at Bristol Rovers and as I was a record signing he must have been under a bit of pressure.

“But he stuck by me and I ended up with 23 goals that year. That was the launchpad for my career and he definitely had a lot of belief in me when other people didn’t.

“He is a good guy and I’m delighted with how he is doing at Blackpool but on Saturday my team needs to win. Yet I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit surprised by how Blackpool have done.

“No-one knew what they were capable of when they came up.

“But they have proved they are capable of playing at this level and Ian Holloway has proved he is capable of managing at this level.”

Roberts was speaking at an event to raise awareness of his charity foundation’s input into disability sport and promote powerchair football.

Roberts, team-mate Morten Gamst Pedersen and Blackpool’s DJ Campbell took part in a powerchair tournament against Aspire and Evergreen, two west London wheelchair football clubs.